OMSI Total Solar Eclipse

On August 21, 2017, Oregon will be the first to see the total eclipse of the Sun. Join OMSI at the Oregon State Fairgrounds where we will celebrate the unique experience of complete darkness for close to two minutes. The Solar Eclipse Viewing Party will include science lectures, astronomy-related community groups, entertainment, and more.

Get there early! Doors open at 6AM. The main event will begin around 9AM and the Total Eclipse will be at 10:18AM. A full schedule of activities is coming soon.

Parking and camping will be available through the Oregon State Fairgrounds. Check back here for more information coming soon.

Tickets for this event are sold out.

The event is rain or shine; all tickets are non-refundable.

Please note: You MUST use a solar eclipse viewer to watch this extraordinary event.

A total solar eclipse is when the moon moves right in front of the sun, covering it completely for a very short time. It darkens the whole sky, lets you look right at the sun*, and shows you the beautiful corona that surrounds the sun. Stars come out, the horizon glows with a 360-degree sunset, the temperature drops, and day turns into night. Oregon is on the center line and several cities around the state will experience maximum totality.

On the beach in Oregon, just north of Newport, the shadow will first touch land at about 10:15am, and will experience a full minute and fifty seconds of totality. The actual centerline of the eclipse path will hit solid ground six seconds later, and plunge Lincoln Beach and Depoe Bay into darkness for one minute and 58 seconds!

It will take only two minutes for the shadow to race eastward toward its first date with a large population of folks who will be breathlessly awaiting its arrival. Salem, Dallas, Albany, Corvallis, Lebanon, Philomath, McMinnville, and Woodburn, will experience various lengths of totality based on their varying distances from the centerline. At the Oregon State Fairgrounds, we will be treated to one minute and 54.5 seconds of shadow at just after 10:17am.

The eclipse will travel through the forests of central Oregon, hitting the mountains at Madras and Warm Springs at about 10:19am. Mitchell and Prairie City will be next, and the shadow will leave Oregon just north of Ontario. The majority of the Pacific Northwest, including Portland and Eugene, are NOT in the path of totality, will witness a partial eclipse ranging from 88% to 99%.

The eclipse will continue across the United States where Illinois will experience the longest eclipse duration at two minutes and 41 seconds. The final shadow will be over the Atlantic Ocean near the west coast of Africa. See a map of the full eclipse path.

*Note: Only look at the sun when it is 100% covered. You must use special solar viewing glasses whenever the sun isn’t completely eclipsed or it may cause irreparable eye damage. Viewing Party tickets include solar viewing glasses.